facta probanda

Facta probanda (“facts to be proved”) are the material facts that make up a party's cause of action or defence. In a suit for damages for breach of contract they are the contract, the breach and the loss. These are the facts a pleading must contain.

Order VI Rule 2 CPC requires every pleading to state, in concise form, the material facts relied on, but not the evidence by which they are to be proved. The facts that would prove them are facta probantia, and they belong in the evidence, not the plaint. Leaving out a material fact can make a plaint fail to disclose a cause of action; adding evidence makes it prolix and open to being struck out.

Example

The agreement to sell and the plaintiff's readiness and willingness are facta probanda in a suit for specific performance and must be pleaded in the plaint.

In Indian law

• Order VI Rule 2, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (pleadings to state material facts, not evidence)

See also

facta probantia · pleadings · fact in issue · cause of action

Read more in the study notes

• Pleadings: fundamental rules, verification and amendment (Order VI) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)